Review: Sustainable wine estate Chateau Troplong Mondot

Location: Sitting pretty among a patchwork of extensive vineyards, sustainable wine estate Château Troplong Mondot overlooks the tiny medieval town of Saint-Émilion, which lies at the crossroads of Bordeaux, Saintonge and Périgord. The town and its surrounding vineyards were designated a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1999 due to the region’s Romanesque churches, ruins and long history of winemaking. The estate is a 40-minute drive from Bordeaux airport.

First impressions: Drizzly skies can’t dampen the picture[1]perfect views sliding past the car window on our drive into the estate. Meticulously tended vines are set out in neat rows that rise and fall with the hillside, punctuated by ancient oak trees and low-lying stone walls. Château Troplong Mondot has a range of accommodation options, but it’s the main house you’ll want to book for groups of families and friends. Holding court atop Saint-Émilion’s famous limestone plateau, this 18th-century château provides an immediate sense of place, with tall windows delivering cinematic views of the vineyard as soon as guests open the door.

The facts: A family home since 1745, Château Troplong Mondot was acquired by French reinsurance company Scor in 2017. The property reopened in 2021 following a three-and-a-half-year renovation, which transformed the main château into an exclusive-use venue and added more hotel accommodation, a Michelin-starred restaurant and a state-of-the-art winery. Today, Château Troplong Mondot is a renowned Premier Grand Cru Classé wine estate and a pioneer in sustainability. Its location makes it the highest winery in the region, boasting three grape varieties and 25 sub-terroirs across its 36 hectares. “Bordeaux loves to do blends, and here you can take from all the different plots,” chief executive Aymeric de Gironde enthuses during a tour.